After losing their home in Algeria, three brothers are separated and go to different places of the world. Messaoud is a soldier in the Indochina war, Abdelkader fights for his freedom but quickly is put in jail; while Said is more interested in making money and running a boxing gym. After a peaceful protest goes wrong, their father is killed and Said and his mother move to France. Adbedelkader is released from Prison and Messaoud returns home from the war. Adbedelkader is a dreamer, and quickly becomes a leader in the Algerian independence movement, where Messaoud finds his place as Adbedelkader's enforcer. Said, on the other hand still shows no real interest in fighting the cause, showing an affinited for making money running nightclubs. Richard Bouchareb's Outside the Law chronicles the Algerians fight for independence through the underground organization FLN. This film has a rather epic scope, taking place in various countries, spanning many years. It plays out similar to a gangster saga as we watch Adbedelkader and Messaoud go toe to toe with the French's special terrorist unit, The Red Hand. Its a good film, but I don't think it really says anything that hasn't been said 100x before in other films which tackle similar themes. It touches on the emotions of these brothers, capturing the struggle the face as they do whatever it takes for freedom, but I only really found myself caring about Messaoud's struggle, never really being emotionally affected by the other two brothers stories. I wish the film spent more time developing the inner-relationships of these three brothers, exploring their family dynamics. Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law is a powerful film about the struggle for freedom but unfortunately it doesn't have anything all that interesting to say.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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